THE stability of all that which Christ teaches is a thought which pervades the Epistle to the Hebrews. The mercies of David are sure mercies, made sure in it by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the true David.
The resurrection quickens for eternity all that it connects itself with, for it speaks the end of the reign of sin, or the destruction of the power of death.
Thus, in chapter 1, the throne of the risen Son is " forever and ever." Heaven and earth may perish, but the risen Son " remaineth."
In chapter 3 title to be of His house is settled by this-" If ye hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the life firm unto the end"-intimating that if the principle of enduring or continuance be not in us, we are wanting in that which is essential to all that is connected with the Son.
So in chapter 5, 7. The priesthood of the Son is stable. It is " forever," after the order of Melchizedek. It is " unchangeable." It is in the power of " an endless life," and they who have it are in the joy of an " eternal salvation;" all are saved " to the uttermost." It is formed by " the oath" of God, by a decree which will never be "repented" of.
The covenant, in like character, according to chapter 8, is ever " new," the covenant which Christ, the risen Son of God, ministers. It never is otherwise than new, never bears with it a single symptom of having run its course, or of being about to yield to something else, or better.
And the precious offering was made in the very strength of eternity. Through the " eternal " Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God, as we read in chapter ix.-and then chapter x. gives witness after witness, from the language of Psa. 40, from the session of Christ in the heavens, and from the words of the Holy Ghost in the words of the New covenant, that what He had offered through the eternal Spirit had settled the matter of sin, and answered for it to God once and for all, forever. And there is added to this, the thought, that to sin against this perfect sacrifice means a sinner without remedy. He is dead irretrievably, and nothing remains but that which sin unremoved introduces us to, a fearful looking for of judgment.
Faith, the parent of hope, is then described in chapter 11, as ever eyeing the future, abiding portion in resurrection.
The kingdom of the Son is, in like character, a kingdom " that cannot be moved," imparted, as it is to be, to all the saints, upon the shaking of everything else, all that is made. This part of the same great secret of eternity, or mystery of strength and continuancy, is declared in chapter 12.
It may, therefore, be well concluded, as it is in chapter 13, that the risen Son remains, and that our business is to adhere to Him and His truth, and not to be carried away to any other object or confidence. " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever."
But this stability depends on perfection. All that Christ touches He makes perfect, or He does what He does so as to give the mind of God rest and satisfaction. And this being so, it abides, or is stable, and that forever.
Accordingly, in another sense, this same Epistle is full of thoughts of perfection, contrasting what that belongs to, with what has imperfection in it.
Thus-the law made nothing perfect (7:19)-neither did the sacrifices under it make the corners to them perfect, or cleansed their consciences (10:1).
But this Epistle invites us to acquaint ourselves with it (vi. 1) and opens it (2:10, 6:9, 10:14).